When the penalties for a positive test are not sufficiently stiff doesn’t the fine become just another insignificant cost of doing business.

Phil has an idea:

First offense penalties:

Automatic 1 year suspension for any Class 1 drug positive.

Automatic 9 month suspension for any Class 2 drug positive.

Automatic 6 month suspension for any other Class drug positive.

And the kicker:

For one year from the date of the ruling every horse entered by the owner of the horse that had the positive test will have a pre and post race blood test to be analyzed at a lab of the Regulatory Body’s choosing at the cost of the owner.

For one year from the date of the end of the suspension every horse entered by the trainer will have a pre and post race blood test to be analyzed at a lab of the Regulatory Body’s choosing at the cost of the trainer.

We all know that the jiggies have the best chemists on their payroll, but at least that type of penalty would be a start.

We all know that the cheaters will continue to find ways to cheat, but at least the playing field will be a tad more level.

Feinstein, who is not known for ever doing anything related to racing, rifled off a letter saying that racing should be halted at Santa Anita until an investigation could be completed into the deaths of 23 horses.

You know how long a federal investigation can take? Two words: Mueller Report.

Politicians: Democrat, Republican, Conservative, Progressive, Independent can’t help themselves. Any event that lends itself to widespread media coverage, as the horrific situation at Santa Anita has, is going to bring out the soap boxes.

This is happening without the feds having an official role in racing regulations. The sport is in enough trouble with dunderheads like the California Horse Racing Board in control. The thought of what might happen if Uncle Sam is ever given real jurisdiction ought to give pause to anyone arguing for a federal role in policing the game.

If you stand on a soapbox and trade rhetoric with a dictator you never win.
Mel Brooks

The Commonwealth Foundation, a free-market think tank based in Harrisburg, has long lambasted the fund as “emblematic of corporate welfare.”

“It’s a tax on slot machines. It’s a subsidy,” said Nathan Benefield, the foundation’s vice president. “And if you have money to subsidize horse racing, you shouldn’t be raising taxes on working families.”

As Santa Anita officials try to figure out why their racetrack has become so dangerous, it will also have to deal with a mounting public relations problem. Animal rights activists have protested outside the gates, and PETA has called on Gov. Gavin Newsom to close the track and asked the Los Angeles County district attorney to open an investigation into the use of drugs that mask injuries.

It is a problem that a beleaguered industry has long anticipated. In 2016 and again last year, members of the greyhound racing industry have anchored panels at the University of Arizona’s annual Global Symposium on Racing. They have spoken about the missteps made as their sport has dwindled to 17 or so racetracks.

“Is It Possible That Horse Racing Is One Referendum Away From Disappearing in Your Jurisdiction?” the discussion was titled in December. “Lessons Learned From the Greyhound Industry.”

An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.

Buddha

The Wood Memorial winner’s namesake was a Roman historian who chronicled inter alia Nero and the burning of Rome. Rightly or wrongly Nero was said to have fiddled while Rome burned. Although a historical impossibility as the fiddle was not invented for another 10 or so centuries, the phrase has come to be commonly used for those like the CCW and QKB who do nothing but take their salaries while everything around them collapses.

Thoroughbred racing in North America has to wake up and start being proactive rather than reactive. Read Wood’s article in the Inquirer about 10 or 20 times to understand that the thoroughbred industry is in a battle for every dollar it can glean and the sundry other factions battling for those dollars are far better organized and positioned than the current mishmash of governing bodies and associations in the thoroughbred industry. Remember that every one of those organizations scrambling for the dollars will exploit every weakness and every negative public perception to benefit themselves.

“It’s a tax on slot machines. It’s a subsidy,” said Nathan Benefield, the foundation’s vice president. “And if you have money to subsidize horse racing, you shouldn’t be raising taxes on working families.”

Phil has a question:

When dollars get tight how do you refute Benefield’s argument.

And whatever you say will be refuted by – Does that mean we should put a tax on Netflix and keep Blockbuster open.

Other than a HRA position holder is there any one in Alberta who thinks that the opening of the Century Mile is all that we need to get thoroughbred racing back on track after a decade of the QKB’s deliberate pro-jiggie anti-thoroughbred tactics.

Is any one out there impressed with Kent Verlik’s ability to help with the rejuvenation of thoroughbred racing in Alberta.

Does Kent Verlik have a better plan than the Edmonton Oiler’s Sideshow Bob.

The trouble with opportunity is that it always comes disguised as hard work.